


Hide & Seek

by Genesister (papirini)



Series: Bangs and Thangs [11]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Background Relationships, Complete, Gen, Head Injury, Hiding, Injury, Kidnapping, Misunderstandings, POV First Person, Psychological Horror, Survival Horror, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-20 02:33:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20667872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/papirini/pseuds/Genesister
Summary: Keith wakes up with no idea where he is or how he got there. All he knows is that  he is in space, everyone is after him, and he doesn't know why.He just wishes he can go home. He's just a kid, after all.Written for the Keith Big Bang 2019.This work isCOMPLETE. Enjoy!





	1. Evil Aliens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A wonderful thank you to MaddyMay for her wonderful art!

The first thing Keith heard upon waking up was a brief, blaring, eardrum-shattering sound. It wasn’t the recognizable alarm that sounded every morning, not at all. Indeed, it didn’t sound like anything he had heard inside the new foster home he lived at. It was a screeching sound, loud and harmful, and it made his head hurt.

Slowly he groaned — he was hungry, he was tired, and he felt strangely stiff — and tried to slip out of bed, eyes blinking blearily at all of the bright purple lights that did not exist in the house he lived in at that time, last he checked. In fact, Mrs. Stevenson didn’t like purple. That was why she tried to toss his knife, but he made sure she wouldn’t find it.

_ … Oh, my knife… where is it… _

Only, he ended up finding himself stumbling onto the floor, body tangled up in some kind of rough, inflexible cloth, his legs only managed to go halfway to the floor. The bed was high, too high for someone like him. Actually, it wasn’t even his bed at all. It looked far too menacing, too grey and dark, and had no sheets on it. All around it there were dark corners, and under it — well, Keith wasn’t going to wonder about what was under it. Probably a monster of some kind. Maybe the monster brought him to this room?

No, no, monsters under the bed didn’t exist. Only babies and scaredy-cats believed in that kind of ridiculous story. He couldn’t be a scaredy-cat — he had to be strong because he very much knew that this was not his current room, and he wanted to cry. But he couldn’t. No — he _ wouldn’t _.

Though come to think of it, Keith realized as he looked down on the dark cloth covering his feet, his clothing wasn’t what he went to bed in, either. These weren’t his favorite hippo-patterned pajamas that the older kids teased him about in the home (but what did they know? Hippos were the coolest!). No, he was in a giant’s clothing — it was some kind of strange black suit, with a complicated overlay and belt that was more akin to a straitjacket than any reasonable clothing, with his hands and feet sliding out of what could only be large handcuffs. At least, they looked like handcuffs, but they didn’t have any chains connecting them together.

Maybe that was why he was roped up in it, he thought as he finally freed himself from his strange little cloth prison after considerable struggling, huffing and puffing as he did so. He stared down at what he was left in, which only left him even more confused than he’d been even a few seconds before. After all, he was in little more than a large black t-shirt that went down to his thigh, and a pair of red shorts that went to below his knees. That one seemed only to fit if he stuffed the shirt into the elastic band; otherwise, he could wear nothing else of the crumpled pile in front of him. It was all just too big for him.

It made no sense, and Keith frowned. Maybe the Stevensons got tired of him, just like the Winstons, and the Patels, and the González before them. Maybe they sent him away to a really bad family, like what they did in those scary films and bad news stories they always somehow made him and the other kids watch. Maybe they convinced someone to send him to a mental home so no one would believe anything he said, or juvie where he could get beaten up by bigger, meaner kids and be out of their hair. Maybe he was just so small in comparison to the bigger kids, and that was why he woke up in such large clothing.

If not, well, he was clearly at the mercy of a crazy person, again like the scary movies. They had brought him here to kill him, or worse, and he couldn’t even imagine what could be worse than dying at the hands of a crazy person — maybe dying at the hands of someone _ not _ crazy? Keith wasn’t sure.

It didn’t matter, as he began to shake. This…was he dreaming? Yes, that had to be it. He was dreaming. All he had to do was pinch himself and wake up, and even though it wasn’t the best place, not at all by any stretch of the imagination, he’d at least be back in a real bed, in his own clothing. He’d be away from here, wherever _ here _ was. _ Here _ wasn’t familiar at all. _ Here _could have anything beyond the door.

It took him some time to take breaths to calm down and to look around himself. The room he woke up in was bare, save for the slab that passed for a bed, the weird giant clothing he wiggled out of, and a shiny object on the floor nearby. Upon sliding over to inspect, he realized it was a large, unadorned gold ring of some kind. Gently sliding it on his fingers, he found the heavy thing only fit on his thumb. Obviously, it couldn’t possibly belong to him.

_ Finders keepers, _ he decided nevertheless. _ Losers weepers. _

After shoving the foreign ring down onto his finger as hard as he could, he started to make his way to the door, only to find that it was locked. Well, found out it was locked after getting on his tiptoes to try and get a hold of the handle. Said handle didn’t look like a doorknob at all, but rather a little sliding catch, much like one would find on a porch door. He vaguely remembered seeing one before, back when he was living with his dad. Back when his dad was still alive, before the fire.

He frowned at the memory and quietly shook his head. Get out first. Then he could think about the bad memories. So, he pulled and pulled, and pulled, as hard as his thin little arms could. Nothing. Nothing happened. He let out a cry of frustration after several moments, and tears began to fill his eyes.

“Come…ON!”

One more hard pull, the hardest pull in the history of ever, and Keith ended up flying backwards on his butt from the sheer force of trying. Bounced on his butt, even. It was no use.

The tears began to fall, and he sobbed, despite knowing it was stupid and pointless to cry, and that he was a big boy and big boys didn’t cry. He couldn’t help it. He was trapped in here. But _ why _ ? What…did he do something really wrong? He hadn’t, though, had he? Sure, he stomped up to his room when he was punished with no dinner, but even so, they wouldn’t lock him in _ here _ , would they? Was this where the bad kids that no one wanted went? What if it _ was _?

Unless he wasn’t actually brought here by the Stevensons, and he was _ kidnapped _ . Maybe someone took him when he wasn’t looking, or when he fell asleep and tossed him in here. He couldn’t quite remember exactly what he was doing before he woke up here, so maybe they drugged him. He also couldn’t quite figure out why anyone would want to kidnap him unless they were going to kill him. Or, maybe his kidnappers were just crazy. Then, he supposed, they didn’t need a reason to kidnap him because, well, they were _ nuts _.

Either way, Keith doubted the Stevensons would be looking into finding him or paying any ransom. They probably forgot they were supposed to look after him. Maybe they already sold what little else he had at their house, including—

His eyes widened as he remembered what he was looking for to begin with.

_ My knife! No, what if they still have it— _

His knife… no, it wasn’t _ taken _ from him, was it? They wouldn’t have, would they? And if they did, _ where was it right now _ ? He promised his dad he wouldn’t lose it. He _ promised _—

He clenched his fists. He promised, and if it were gone, he’d get it back. He _ had _ to. He could do it, even if he was just a kid. So he’d do it and prove everyone who thought he couldn’t do it wrong.

Instantly he went back to the pile of giant's clothing, tossing things to and from until, finally, he found it. The only thing his mama left him before she left. He cradled it protectively to his chest, before turning back to the door. Maybe…maybe now…

He scampered back to the door, this time sliding the knife between the door and the frame in an attempt to try and saw the little rectangle knob thingy—the thing that popped in and out of a doorknob to keep the door closed, or to open it, whatever it might have been called—with the blade.

There was no knob thingy to saw off, and Keith quietly gulped, then jumped, as the alarm blared again. He really was trapped, and he really hoped his actions weren’t causing the alarm to go off or something.

Unless…no, no window. The ceiling was too high for him to reach, and it didn’t look like it could be opened up anyways. Keith’s eyes darted to and fro until they alighted on a rectangular shape in the corner across the way.

A vent. Of course! He could use the vent to escape! Then he could find a phone, call the police, and hopefully get whoever brought him to this room arrested. It meant he’d have to go back to the Stevensons, but maybe not, because they let him get kidnapped. Maybe he’d finally be with a family that wouldn’t get angry when he asked for extra food, or wanted a turn at the video game console, or stayed up late to read.

Instantly his knife was out as he went to pry the vent open by the screws, only to find, to his surprise, that it opened it easily with a single tap of his finger with nary a screw in sight. It seemed to be strangely futuristic, at least in comparison to the vents he saw in houses and at school. Much larger, actually. Large enough and wide enough that he could crawl through with ease, and even turn himself around if need be, though not so large that he could be easily followed by a normal-sized adult without them getting stuck.

Yes, he decided as he put the blade in his mouth and opened the vent as wide as he could, crawling in butt first so he could close the vent on his way out. He could do this. He could get out of here, and then—

The alarm blared once more, and just as Keith closed the vent door, a loud _BANG_ emanated from within his cell, followed by the sound of clattering metal. Shouting from beyond his cell was followed by a louder, more persistent alarm echoing from further away, and the smell of burning filled the air as smoke and fog billowed into the room.

Keith let out a gasp and coughed, closing his eyes as the gross smell began to fill into the vent (just like the house just like _ dad _ no no no _ no n o _ ) beginning to rapidly scoot away further into the vent as footsteps began to pound into the room. Very loud, very heavy, very _ big _ footsteps.

“Clear!” A deep, booming voice made Keith’s ears ring as he cowered, eyes wide as a large figure leaned down to look beneath the bed, before grabbing the clothing he had only recently shed. “...He is not here.”

Keith froze as, through the slats of the vent, he saw the profile of the figure investigating the room. It was male, and it was huge. It was also so very, very not human. Though it was difficult to take in everything in detail with the smoke, he could still see the specks of purple skin, and the red markings, and the lack of a nose on the figure looking around, a very profoundly stern growl on its lips. He could also see, most clearly of all, the glowing yellow eye that lacked any kind of iris as it cast light beneath the bed, then on the floor, then on the pile of cloth Keith left behind.

He quickly bit his arm, plunging his teeth down as hard as he could onto his skin to keep himself from screaming, or crying, or breathing too fast, as the horror of the creature he was looking at began to sink in.

He’d not been kidnapped by a crazy person, or by a murderer. He’d been abducted by _ aliens _. Giant, monstrous, glowy-eyed aliens.

“Keith is not here!” Oh no, they knew his name. He slowly slid even further away from the vent opening, making himself even smaller, hoping the monster wouldn’t think to look inside the vent and find him. “We’ve been tricked.”

“No, that can’t be right. He’s _ here _ ,” a more female-sounding voice insistently cut in. “He never left this place; I _ know _ he didn’t.”

“…Then we’re going to have to stay until we _ find _ him,” the scary alien growled, causing the room to rumble. “I, for one, will _ not _ leave until we have him in our hands.”

With that, the alien stomped out of the room, and Keith gulped. They were looking for him. They were looking for him, and they might have even been the ones to put him in there. He began to slowly back away, further and further, until he was plunged into the darkness of the venting system entirely.

He had to get out of this place. Wherever this place was, he might not even be on Earth anymore if he was abducted by aliens. Who knew on what planet he might be, or even if he was near a planet. He shut his eyes tightly, trying to steady his breathing, just in case they could hear him breathing from within his hiding place.

There was no further response from inside the room, save for the blaring alarm and the hiss of smoke as it pooled on the floor.

Keith backed away even more, bumping his back into a vent wall. It didn’t really matter if his cell was clear again. He had to _ leave _ this place _ now _. Maybe find an escape pod or ship or something like they always have in the movies. Maybe there was a hangar like there always seemed to be in the movies he’d seen. He just had to find it — he could figure out how he’d fly home later.

He just wished as he began to turn around to crawl deeper into the darkness of the vents — which, somehow, wasn’t so dark with his vision that he couldn’t see the fork up ahead — that his dad was here. But he wasn’t, and he wasn’t going to help. His dad was gone, and he knew all too well that anyone who might have been in a position to help wouldn’t lift a finger for him.

He had to do this alone.

Then again, Keith sighed quietly as he continued to crawl, going to the left while keeping his knife close to him; he really shouldn’t have been surprised by this point. When his dad died (and it was not that long ago, but it felt, at the same time, _ forever _ since Keith saw him), he was all alone. He’d already realized no one would help him anyway. The only one who would look out for him was him, in the end. And that was just going to have to do for Keith to save himself from this mess.

* * *

Whatever was happening outside, the alarm hadn’t stopped blaring, Keith realized as he kept crawling towards a light in the shaft. He didn’t know what was beyond, obviously. He didn’t remember getting abducted or being tossed into the cell. He also just felt hungry, which was normal for him, so if the aliens had done anything to him, he didn’t remember that, either.

Well, he really _ hoped _ the aliens hadn’t done anything to him. He didn’t feel like he was experimented on or probed, but that didn’t mean it didn’t happen. He’d have to figure it out later, when he was safe.

And judging by the loud _ BLAM BLAM BLAM _ that started to happen as he rapidly skittered from the smoking vent opening that presented itself to him, Keith was pretty sure he was anything but. There was a lot of shouting through the shooting, but otherwise Keith didn’t know what the aliens were saying, and he frankly did not care to stay and find out. Chances were, it was about him.

He huffed and puffed as he came to a dead end of the ducting, forced to climb upwards on his tip-toes until he hopped up onto the next level above with the biggest jump. He could barely make it, and he had to stop and catch his breath for a few moments as he did.

So, right now, he was with a bunch of aliens actually _ shooting _ each other. And-given how he could understand at least one of them shouting about prisoners-they were all looking for him, too. He really didn’t know why. He barely knew anything about space, other than the basic stuff, like the planets in the solar system. Or the fact people couldn’t decide if Pluto was a planet or plutoid or both. Also, Pluto was a dog, and the other planets were named after Greek gods and stuff.

Otherwise, he still didn’t-couldn’t-imagine himself worth abducting. He was just a kid, and not a kid most people seemed to want, after all. Nothing special, nothing worth it, like what Mr. Patel told him.

But-he was going to get out of there, he thought, squaring his shoulders and gritting his teeth. He would show them all he could take care of himself better than they ever did. Even if they didn’t believe him when he got home, he’d know the truth, and they couldn’t take that away from him, like they tried to take his knife.

Swallowing, his fingers began to play with the ring on his thumb as he tried to think about all the space movies he saw. Maybe he needed to get a gun for himself to defend himself. It was just a question of how the heck he could even do that. He wasn’t even four feet tall, and the glowy-eyed alien he spotted in his cell was probably ten times his height. He swallowed, looking at his knife as he clenched his empty hand, his thumb starting to rub worriedly across the top of his other finger.

The more he thought of how he could defend himself with just his knife, the more the thought of _but_ _I’m just a kid_ pushed back against his bravado, and his certainty vanished once more. How _was_ he supposed to defend himself against the giant alien with just his knife? Sure, he could try stabbing the alien, but would that even _do_ anything? What if the alien had a gun, or a laser?

Not to mention that even if he got past the alien, he didn’t know what else he might face before he got home, like all the _ other _ aliens that were fighting out in the open with _ their _ laser beams and guns. And worst of all, when he _ did _ get home, it was probably going to be midnight _ at least _-there was no way he’d get home before dark. The Stevensons would still just punish him for being a rude little brat who came home late from school and for lying about where he’d been. Again.

He _ hated _ that.

“But…but I can do it.” He spoke to himself, trying to psyche himself up again for the impossible mission. “I _ gotta _. I don’t want to be grounded again.”

It wasn’t working. Shutting his eyes, he unclenched his fist and switched his knife into that hand as he began to crawl again. His pants began to slide off as he continued to squirm onward, forcing him to stop to pull them up again. He really wished he knew why he was changed into such big clothes, and where his own clothes went. Maybe he’d find them while he escaped.

Really, he just wanted to know why he was here to begin with, and why all the aliens were shooting each other and fighting over him. The idea that anyone would be fighting over him was so ridiculous it was stupid, so maybe he _ was _ dreaming. It just _ felt _ real, but it wasn’t _ really _.

Right?

“Over here!” Keith’s head popped up at the shouting as he neared a new vent opening. “We got him!”

More people. Had they found-no. No, they couldn’t have found _him_, could they? He was hidden, safe. They couldn’t know he was in there, could they?

No, he realized as he very, very slowly slid over to take in the scene. They didn’t even see him. They, because there was a bunch of spacemen, their species obscured by their helmets. Their weapons were drawn, and they were all hovering together in some wicked-looking armor.

“This him?”

Most of the spacemen in this group didn’t look as terrifying as the alien with glowing eyes, but that was only because Keith could only see their backs. All were wearing black-and-white uniforms and helmets with different color accents–blue, yellow, and green. They almost looked human from the back.

Keith wasn’t stupid, though. Aliens didn’t look human. Well, they _ sometimes _ did in TV and movies and stuff, but that was because they were played _ by _ humans in some way. They wouldn’t actually _ look _ human in real life. They’d look more like the scary glowing eyed giant, or worse.

“Yeah, this is him. This is definitely who’s responsible.”

Keith watched, eyes wide, as the group of spacemen gathered around a rather rotund-looking alien, blue and green with orange spots, and four defiantly glaring eyes, being dragged by the tallest of the spacemen. They were dressed differently than the others, in grey and white with some orange and black parts arranged on their chest. They also practically looked like a giant action figure with muscles as they stepped forward. After dumping the blob onto the floor, they turned towards the others, face obscured by an orange face plate, right arm white and robotic as it went to their hip.

Of course–the grey-suited spaceman was a robot of some kind. Why _wouldn’t_ the aliens have a robot at their disposal to try and catch him?

“I’ll handle this.” The robot’s voice was male, stern, deep, and _very_-not-happy. Keith knew those were _ not _ a good combination from experience. “You guys keep looking.”

“All right, man.” One of the other spacemen nodded, giant yellow gun in hand. “We’ll keep looking for Keith.”

The robot nodded to the others as they departed, then turned back to the alien, who looked completely uninterested in what was happening. At least, not until the robot turned his orange visor off. Keith couldn’t see what the robot’s face looked like, not from the angle he was watching the scene unfold.

“You know this face, don’t you, Berlzor.”

But the fat alien could see, and its eyes widened with fear as sweat began to bead on its head and neck folds.

“_Gllgi-- Asiwaju_!?” It croaked incomprehensible words, shaking. “_Asiwaju …rysha osdhf jah idawa deECHHHGGGHK_-”

The alien was suddenly lifted up by its neck folds by the robot’s white hand, and thrust upwards to the robot’s obscured face.

“_No_, Berlzor. _ Clearly _ I’m not dead.” The tone of the robot became harsh, threatening. “Now – you’re going to tell me _exactly_ what I want to know. Where is Keith?”

“Gnngh!” The fat alien whimpered, letting out a small drooling cough. “_ Wgdjaa yotpa jah ehsuGH- _!?”

“_ Stop _.”

The white arm dropped the alien, then backhanded with the other at breakneck speed, sending the fat alien flying away but hard. Though Keith couldn’t see what was happening, the telltale _ CRACK _ that echoed did not bode well at all. In any other situation, he’d find the fact that the robot’s arm could float away from its body really, _ really _ cool. Right now? It made his grip on his knife tighten defensively.

He could imagine himself being the one on the receiving end of that arm. Heck, he barely cleared the length of the robot arm, it was _that_ big. That strong. That scary.

The arm flew forward– seriously, _ it wasn’t even attached to the rest of his body! _–came back, the alien in tow sputtering a bright pink liquid from its mouth. On its head was a large pink gash from where he had impacted with…something. Keith didn’t want to know with what.

“_Don’t _ waste my time. We already _ know _ he’s not where you claim to have him, Berlzor. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised–it wouldn’t be the first time you’ve lied to save your skin. But _ this _ time, I’m _ free _ , and your Galra overlords aren’t going to save you from your _ crimes _ .” There was no emotion in the robot’s voice as it seemed to go even lower, as if in final warning. The arm brought the alien to its face until Keith could only see a vague outline of the creature. “So, I won’t ask you again. Where. Is. _ Keith _.”

The alien let out a terrified squeak at the utter calm of the robot, and Keith was getting scared as well. If this is what the robot would do to a bad guy, what was the robot planning doing to _ him _?

He didn’t realize how much his hand was shaking until the knife fell out of it, clattering loudly to the metal floor. He let out a gasp and snatched it back up, hoping the robot hadn’t heard it.

_ No…no… _

The robot’s head turned to see a scarred, human-looking face, eyes and thick brows narrowed dangerously over a sharp nose, fixing itself right in the direction of the vent as he dropped the alien to the ground.

_ No...no, no no- _

He began to back up and crawl away into the darkness, turning back in time to see the vent opening and the robot’s head slowly popping in.

_ No no no no no no- _

The head retreated, but only to allow for the floating arm to go in. Keith’s pace increased as he looked back to see the hand closing in on him, his breathing becoming fast and labored.

_ No NO NO NO NO NO- _ “**NO!!**”

He let out a screech as the arm clasped firmly around his ankle, the metal cold and unforgiving against his skin. Without a second thought, Keith pulled his leg up as hard as he could, swinging his blade around at the black knuckles of cybernetic fingers with all his strength.

Metal met metal with a _ clang _. The fingers abruptly let go, a shout came from the robot outside, and Keith used the opportunity to bolt, turning a hard corner and sliding away from the danger as a result of an unexpected incline in the ducting.

“Guys!?” The arm didn’t pursue him, but as he got further away, Keith could hear the robot’s shouts echo downwards after him. “We’ve got a problem, someone’s…the vents…careful…!”

The fact he was sliding further away from danger didn’t comfort Keith at all. They now knew he was in the vents. Or if not him, they knew _ somebody _was using the vents to travel, and at some point, he was certain the robot arm would find him if he stayed in the vents too long.

He’d have to switch things up, he decided as his butt skidded to a halt at the bottom of the duct-hill he had come down. Get out of the vents for a while, and maybe they’d give up once they figured out he wasn’t there anymore. Then, he’d just pop back in and out until he figured out where the escape route was.

Long dark duct corridors met him on both sides as he looked–he chose to go right this time. Get away from the robot. Get away from the aliens. Ignore the sound of the alarm and the threat of the monsters coming after him, and get away.

Keith really hoped he could.


	2. Scary Monster

Keith hadn’t been in the vents that much longer after the robot’s failed capture of him when, suddenly, the lights up ahead from the next vent opening he was crawling towards–had planned to get out of, even–went dark. He’d just turned another right, had slid down another, sharper incline, and nearly lost his knife in the process. It was just after he’d managed to slide it into the band of his too-big pants when everything was suddenly plunged into darkness.

The alarm also went completely silent, and for a moment, Keith stopped. What was happening? Why was everything turned off now?

Maybe it was just night time, or something completely benign. Or maybe the spacemen turned off the lights before they left, but he couldn’t be that lucky. He _never_ was.

Still, no scary sounds seemed to emanate from the vent he was headed to, so Keith decided to take his chances. He was glad he could see real good at night, unlike a lot of the other kids back home (even if they thought he was weird for it) because as he crawled further, he could see what was within the room beyond: a large, rectangular white box. It looked like…it looked _ just _ like…

Keith’s stomach began to rumble unhappily as he slowly opened the vent, his eyes and head dashing left and right. No one was in this room; indeed, it was much like the cell he had been in before. The door looked the same as the one he couldn’t open, yet when he went to touch it, it slid open a little too easily for his comfort. Just beyond, he could see floating tables in a line, with futuristic chairs scattered everywhere. Dozens of what could only be bowls were all over as well, most left half-eaten, their contents scattered on the tabletops and floor.

_ Then… _he turned to the white rectangle, his stomach practically egging him on as he slowly backtracked into the small room. _This must be the kitchen. _

He really needed to keep going. He only just escaped his cell, and he still had no clue where he was, or how he was getting out. But he didn’t hear so many guns or see so much smoke here in this place, the door slid behind him as he ventured closer to what he was going to call the space fridge, and he was so _hungry_.

No, he decided as he touched the box, and it slid open to reveal several wrapped bars. No, he needed to get out of here. He didn’t have time to do something so stupid as eat. He wasn’t a baby. He could tough through this. He was a strong boy.

_ I’m…I’m not that… _

He really needed to get out of here, he thought, as his hands began to grab several of the bars, ripping one of them open. He panted over them as he thought that, really, anyone could come and find him, and he should probably run out and find a new place to slip into the vents.

_ Hungry… _

The smell was like chicken as it filled his nostrils, a delicious chicken dinner that he hadn’t had in months. Not since his dad was around. Not since his dad was alive, and-

He began to shake, and tears began to fill his eyes again, as he stuffed his face with the bars in his hands.

_ I’m not a baby. _

It was so good. How long had it been since he’d eaten? He didn’t know. He didn’t remember. Maybe at school, when they gave him free lunch, but then again, he didn’t remember going to school before waking up in this place. He also wasn’t sure whether he had even been at the Stevensons or not, before he fell asleep and woke up here.

He tried to clamp down on the muffled sounds that came from his mouth as he all but inhaled the food, tried to shake his head to stop the tears. He didn’t know anything, and he was scared, and he knew no one was going to come for him, and _he wasn’t a baby, or a scaredy cat, he wasn’t going to cry_ over something so stupid as _sneaking food and_ _eating alone_.

_ I… _

It wouldn’t have been the first time anyways, and he always felt ashamed doing it. Even here, trying to save himself, he was being a bad kid.

_ …I wanna go home. _

He was probably going to die alone, wasn’t he? The monsters were going to find him, they would find him and take him away and then he would never see Earth again. All because he’d wanted to eat, and he missed his dad, and he didn’t stop crying for what felt like forever. 

Finally, though–_ finally _–Keith’s head hurt, and he felt flush, but he stopped crying, finding himself surrounded by crumbs. His stomach didn’t hurt so much anymore, at least. Looking around, he found himself gathering up some of the food bars he hadn’t torn into, then stuffing them into the elastic band of his pants. It at least helped to fill them out, so they didn’t slide down his butt, he figured. Besides, the trip back to Earth would probably take some time, several hours at the least, so far as Keith could figure. Having some food had to be a good idea.

Letting the door slide open again, he looked back into the empty and dark dining room. Still no one there. Good. His feet began to pad quietly against the floor as he lowered his head and began to sprint into the next room beyond. No, not a room–a fork of hallways. Keith’s heartbeat began to tick up as he looked left and right. It was empty, dark, and so eerily silent.

And next to a door at the end of the hall, there was a vent, waiting for him to pop into it. Not even bothering to hesitate–not when his brain was screaming _ run run RUN _–Keith broke into a sprint, panting as he practically dove towards it.

And smacked head-first into the side of a spaceman alien, his skull connecting with something hard and plastic-like that caused him to bounce back. Pain shot through to his ears as he staggered back with a gasp, his eyes only focusing in time to see the barrel of a gun aimed at his face.

_ No… _

Keith’s heart rate spiked at the sight, and at the spaceman’s utterly blank expression as it stared him down from beneath the darkness of their visor, with only a faint green border to break the greyness. His breath started coming out in short gasps as he realized he was trapped.

_ No no no no no- _

After a moment, the expression of the spaceman changed. The eyes widened, and the barrel slowly lowered.

“Wh-“ It was another male, if the voice was anything to go by. They also sounded very surprised. “_Keith_!?”

That, Keith realized even as he was frozen in fear, was his chance. If he was going to get away from this monster, he had to act _now_. But his hand wasn't going to his blade for some reason, so his mind went to the next best thing to do.

“_GAAAAH!_”

He let out a screech as he brought his leg up with all his strength, slamming his bare foot right into the plastic-like surface of the spaceman’s crotch as hard as he could. With a girl-like howl, the spaceman went down on their knees, their weapon clattering on the floor with a strange red glow.

Keith didn’t bother picking up the gun. It looked heavy, and it seemed to be shifting into something smaller, something that was not a gun. It was likely something that he couldn’t use, not like his knife. Instead, he ran away from the spaceman as he collapsed, a free hand shooting out to try and grab him.

_ No no no- _

The slim fingers brushed on the underside of his arm, but Keith was just too fast to be caught.

“Knnhk-” The shouting of the spaceman’s pained shouts receded with each frantic step that pounded beneath him. “K-Keith, stop, _wait_-!”

Keith didn’t wait. Instead, he rounded another corner, making sure no one else could see him, then practically threw the vent door open before flying inside. He didn’t even bother to close the vent behind him as he clambered away inside, the ring on his thumb smacking against the metal with multiple _ dings _ while he did so. He hopped up another level, grunting as he pulled himself upwards with clammy hands.

“…using the vents!” His heart was beating so loud in his ears he only barely heard what the spaceman was saying as they no doubt found the open vent. “Yes…and…a little _kid_!”

_ Yeah, I’m a little kid. _Keith shut his eyes tight as he continued to crawl away, as fast as his little kid’s body could take him. _And I’m _ not _ going to let you catch me! _

Now, for sure, they were aware he was using the vents. But he was small, and they were big. There was no way they could follow him outside of the floating robot arm, and they needed to know exactly where he was to use that. Keith knew that the spacemen knew it as well.

He had food, he had a weapon, and now, he had an advantage. He could do this, he thought, eyes widening in surprise as he realized this. He began to go faster at the prospect, and he could feel the adrenaline pumping through him.

Yes, he could do this, maybe.

He just had to find the exit.

* * *

He had been climbing upwards for…forever (it _ felt _like forever, at least) before he found another vent. He began to crawl towards it, pondering if there was another similar vent nearby as well. As long as he kept popping in and out, he might be all right after all.

“…You’re certain?”

Then the voice had to speak. It was the glowy-eyed alien, and Keith froze. _ Oh no. _

“Pretty sure,” came the reply. It was the spaceman he’d sacked but good. “I mean, I think we’ve established I’d recognize the mullet anywhere, right?”

_ Mull…et? _Keith leaned back, frowning indignantly. _I don’t have that. What even is that? _

“I don’t doubt you.” The scary robot’s voice. _ Oh _ , he _ really _ should get away, but maybe he could figure out something if he heard them talk, so he continued to listen, keeping himself as quiet as possible. “But if he’s the one using the vents, we can’t exactly chase after him.”

“Did your arm not go into the vents?” The glowy-eyed alien again. “Or do you think further action by that means would be inadvisable?”

“If he’s regressed?” A long pause from the robot. “I don’t think chasing him through the vents is a good idea. He might not even understand _why _we’re trying to find him, if his reactions are anything to go by.”

Keith began to flush with annoyance. Why would the robot even _care _about that, anyways? Or the glowy-eyed alien, or any of the spacemen, with their guns and arms and stupid big adult words like _regressed _or _inadvisable_? What did those even _mean_?

“My arm doesn’t have that long of a range, anyways, so it’s not like I can just let it loose in the ventilation and wait for it to find him before I lose connection to it.” The robot sounded frustrated. “I don’t know if there’s anything I can _do_, not directly. But we need to find him as fast as possible.”

“And when the main console was hacked, the station’s main power and primary system functions outside of the air filtration pumps were taken down.” A female voice. It sounded like the one that Keith had heard when he first escaped. “So while we can still breathe, we don’t presently have access to the main computers or its command modules.”

“Can it be restored?”

“Not without the station’s scalurite batteries being re-connected to the power network,” the female voice sighed. “There was a failsafe that our hack job triggered we hadn't anticipated. It completely shut off access to the energy needed to power up the base–it overloaded the connection and fried it. Probably put in to prevent attackers from obtaining whatever information Berlzor’s stored here over the years. We’re not going to be able to restore anything major until we manually re-wire everything. That will take us time.”

“In other words, you’re saying there’s no way to access information on the ventilation system layout right now. So…we could be here for days before we even see Keith again, if at all…if we don’t find him before he disappears on us completely, who knows what might happen to him in the meantime…”

The robot sounded so…sad at that. Worried, even. Well, then that made Keith very happy. If they would be here for days looking for him, maybe they would just give up and leave after a while. Besides, _ he _ didn’t need to worry about going hungry; he had the food bars he took from the kitchen and he was used to skipping meals to boot. He could _definitely _outlast these monsters, and then make a break for it!

“Uh.” The spaceman he kicked abruptly spoke up, ruining his internal celebration. “Guys, I hate to do this, but I think that if we want to find Keith now, we’re…going to need…you know.”

There was silence.

“No, Paladin,” The glowy-eyed alien’s voice sounded flat. “I _don’t _know. Please enlighten me.”

“Well…” More silence. “I mean we need…_the big guns_.”

Big guns.

Keith’s joy abruptly vanished.

“…_Paladin_.” The glowy-eyed alien’s voice became sharp and scary. “Half of you already _have _firearms. _Please _explain how _bigger _guns are going to help this situation.”

“No, no, it’s an expression! I don’t mean _actual _big guns.”

The spaceman had a point. Bigger guns meant they weren’t playing around anymore, after all. They were bringing in more firepower, or a more experienced fighter, or something like that, just like in the movies. And the thought they would, immediately and just for him, go to the bigger guns–whatever _ they _ were–made Keith feel that much more scared. Where before, he’d had some hope blowing up inside of him, now it was starting to flatten in front of him like a pancake.

A pancake the Stevensons never let him have, because he was a bad kid.

At least he wasn’t hungry right _now_, Keith grumbled.

“I mean…” The spaceman almost seemed to pause for effect. “_Him._”

Keith swallowed slowly as the silence that followed. Already his mind was popping up with possibilities of who him was. A monster more monstrous than the glowy-eyed alien. A cyborg that was more deadly than the killer robot they already had. A spaceman more…spacey than the one he kicked, maybe?

He didn’t know. It didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to like it, which meant it he had any chance of escaping, he needed to find the escape now, before the him they were talking about was brought in.

Slowly he began to slide backwards, paying no heed to whatever else the group had to say. It didn’t matter, wouldn’t matter, so long as he got out. He just had to figure out what he was doing–maybe his experience with watching movies could help him figure something out.

As soon as he was far enough away that he felt like no one would hear him, he let out a huff, and thought. In most of the space movies he saw, they all were very similar when it came to where certain rooms were placed, no matter what race was in charge. The place where the captain would go and give orders–the bridge–was on the top of the ship or station or whatever, while the place where all of the ships would go–the docking bay–was near the bottom.

It would be easy to just go to the bottom floor and take a ship from there. But the monsters said that the systems were all down. Which meant that the docking bay might be shut down too, if all of the controls on the ship were busted. Which meant that that the computer had to be restarted.

If he was ever going to get that to happen, he had to go onto the bridge. Sure, it would probably be a long time before he could get the computer to turn on, if the scaly batteries not being connected meant there was no power. But he could see in the dark, and if he had to, he could go without food once he ran out.

He’d done so before, after all. The school didn’t give free breakfasts and lunches at the Stevensons’ house on the weekends, after all.

Yeah, he thought as he nodded. He needed to get to the bridge, and so that was what he would do. As he began to crawl through the vents again, he could feel his hope start to pop up into his chest. His finger began to play with the ring on his thumb again, twirling it around as he looked for the next crevice to climb upwards.

Get to the bridge, and then, when the time came, get out and back to Earth.

He could _do _this.

He _had_ to. 

* * *

He was starting to get tired.

His arms were starting to hurt, and his knees and elbows were starting to burn from his skin rubbing against the metal as he kept going in and out of the vents. Sweat covered his face, and his armpits, where his shirt was starting to feel wet.

He stopped, letting himself pant for several moments as he recovered his strength. He could have used something to drink, but he didn’t have anything; he didn’t think to grab anything from the space fridge. He brought his hands to his cheeks, feeling the warmth on them as he tried to recollect himself. He _ really _ hoped he was close to the bridge, because he wasn’t sure how long he could go on.

As he shuddered to suppress more tears, he suddenly wished Hippy was with him. All the kids made fun of him for keeping Hippy, but even though the tail was a little burnt and one of the ears was missing, Keith vowed to keep him forever and ever, no matter what. Hippy was his best and coolest friend, after all. His only friend, in fact.

He didn’t even have any friends here in space, real or pretend, Keith was certain of that. Being able to hug Hippy would at least help with easing his fear a little bit. Between the aliens, and the spacemen, and the darkness though it didn’t scare him so much as all else…and now the _big guns _that they were going to bring in to get him for who knew what…

Hippy could have helped him out. Maybe he could have been the lookout while Keith searched for an escape route, and if the spacemen tried to hurt him, he had super-awesome sharp teeth that could rip through metal! Because he wasn’t a normal hippo, obviously. He also had wings, and could talk, but he hid most of that from everyone except Keith. He wondered if Hippy could also breathe in space; he’d have to figure that one out at some point.

_ …There I go, I’m being a stupid baby again. A big old crybaby. _Keith wiped his eyes as a tear nevertheless escaped. _I know Hippy is just a toy. But…but if he was really real…he’d come for me for sure. _

His lip still quivering, he decided to keep going. He really had to–he had no choice. If he was ever going to see Hippy again, he had to save himself. Pulling himself together, he took a deep breath, then slowly slid over until he had opened the vent and looked around.

It was a big room, a lounge of some kind, with a bunch of squares and circles that all had indents in them. There was also a fountain of some kind, though it spurted out a pitiful stream of glowing green liquid that Keith wasn’t sure was safe for him to drink–as thirsty as he was at that point, he wasn’t _that _desperate yet.

The large space all led out to a wall. On that wall was a panel of double doors that reminded him of an elevator’s doors from back home. It looked more plastic, less shiny, but the more Keith looked at it, the more he realized that maybe it was an elevator, and maybe–no, wait, the power was off. Maybe there was another way. He didn’t want to keep using the vents, not with the way his elbows and knees were screaming at him.

He took in a breath, and let out a sigh, just as green and purple lights began to pop back to life, along with flashing red beams. Not all of them, and no alarm began to blare alongside the red lights. But the elevator began to let out a hum that Keith could hear, even from his hiding spot. It _ was _ working now! It had to be. Why else would it start making noises? And if the elevators were working, maybe the bridge worked now, too.

Still he waited. He wasn’t stupid. The monsters were going to use the elevator to search for him. He had to make sure they wouldn’t come after him. So, he would wait, until he was certain that he had some kind of chance to use the lift by himself. That, or he had to find another method of getting to the bridge. And that meant getting out of the vents and actually looking for the solution. So, slowly, with a grunt, he popped out of the vent opening, quietly tiptoeing through the lounge.

Voices suddenly echoed from behind a pillar, and instantly, dove behind the fountain, head down, eyes closed. He really hoped no one saw him.

“…ure about this?” The voice sounded like a girl, but it also could have been a boy. Keith wasn’t sure. “I mean, we’ve already got some secondary systems back up. Maybe we should wait a few more hours.”

“I’d agree with you under normal circumstances, but…” The other voice was male, and very worried. “This is a little kid we’re talking about, and its already been a few hours since anyone’s seen him. The sooner we find him the better.”

Keith let out a huff at this–no way they were _actually _worried about him.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” The maybe-female voice huffed. “So, what? Using _him _is going to help? He can’t fit into the vents, either.”

_ Him. He. _Keith’s eyes widened, as curled further into himself as the conversation continued. _They must be talking about the _big guns _again. _

“Yeah, but…we really gotta be careful with using him!” The other voice replied. “He can be pretty aggressive, and with a kid, it might be a bit…much.”

“You’re right, but…” The voices began to recede as Keith listened. “We;ll just have to talk to him before he’s unleashed, then. Make sure he knows he’s got to be careful when handling a kid. It’s really different from being around a grown man, especially at _his_ size…so….”

The voices became muffled, and soon, Keith could hear nothing. His breath began to quicken once more, as the thoughts of what the _ big guns _ could be started to crowd his mind. Well, _big gun _was the correct way to put it, since it sounded like it was only one person they were turning to. One person, who was _ huge _ , and was _ aggressive _ –a term which Keith had heard before, when teachers, social workers and foster families came together and talked about _him_. When they did say that about Keith, it always meant that he was being out of control, _bad_.

So, from experience, Keith concluded that in this case, too, _ aggressive _ meant _ bad _ . In other words, this _ big gun _ the monsters were bringing in was someone who probably really mean. It was someone who could probably _ really _ hurt him.

He hugged himself, trying to calm himself again. Maybe he was just overreacting. Adults made things sound worse than they were, at least a good part of the time. Getting locked in a closet, for example, wasn’t _ so _ bad when you could see as well in the dark as Keith could. Sometimes Keith even managed to sneak a book in with him, which was weirdly something the Stevensons never bothered to search him for. So, perhaps it was possible that the _ big gun _ they were bringing in wasn’t as scary as they all made it out to be.

And if the _ big gun _ really was bad, well, Keith could be just as bad. He could be worse, even. If everyone around him back home was telling the truth, he was a _ terrible, awful _ kid. He could bite and scratch and hit and punch as good as any big gun. He even beat up the oldest kid of the fosters living in his last home, when Jakob made fun of the fact that Keith was such a _ loser _ that his dad ran into the house fire to get away from him.

Keith was sure that wasn’t true. _ Pretty _ sure, at least. In any case, that wasn’t important. The fact that these spacemen were on the floor he was on was. How did they get up there? There was no way they could use the vents, and the elevators were out. Which meant-

_ Stairs! This ship has stairs! _

It was going to be risky if that was true. There would be a chance that the spacemen would be in the staircase when he made for the stairs, and if they caught him it would be all over. So first, he had to make sure they weren’t above him, that he could make it to the bridge and find a way off of this ship. Taking a deep breath, Keith stood up, then ran, slamming into the pillar as he stared down in the direction where the voices had gone. 

There was no sound. Quickly, he bolted around the pillar, heading in the opposite direction, where the spacemen had come from. Just as he had suspected, a flight of sleek metal steps awaited him, borders illuminated with purple lights. He didn’t go up just yet, though. He strained his ears to listen for voices, movement, anything that would signal that he needed to hide.

He heard nothing. Good. His little feet slapped on the metal as he began to run up the flight of stairs, stopping when he saw there was another floor above him. He shut his eyes, breathing heavily, waiting for sounds to emanate, for voices to echo into the hallways, for anything to indicate that his pursuers were nearby.

Nothing.

The coast to the very top was clear. Huffing and puffing he bolted up the stairs as fast as his little legs could carry him, before coming to a large set of double doors that automatically slid open to him as he got close.

_ Is this the bridge…!? _

It looked like it could be one, even in the dark. A large clear dome covered the room, and large consoles with massive, silent square panels and giant chairs dotted the entire area. Keith’s eyes widened as he looked at what was in front of him. If this wasn’t the bridge of this ship, then he didn’t know what else it could be. Now all he had to do was wait for the power to come on, and then he could get a map of where he was, and then he could _ finally _ go home.

Even if, for him, home was with the Stevensons, a place he didn’t want to go back to. But he had to. Most of his stuff was there, and at least there he knew what he was going to get for being out so late, and that he’d recover, somehow. Who knew what these spacemen and aliens were going to do to him once they got their hands on him.

_ Ok! _ Keith rubbed, then slapped his face. _ Don’t think about that. Just think about this. The power has to come on eventually, right? So… _

Keith scampered onto what he thought was the captain’s chair, finding himself staring up at the dome and the outside stars beyond. It was dark and inky, with only a few lights to puncture the black. There was no sign of Earth in the sky; he didn’t recognize any constellations that might have been scattered across his vision. There was just a whole lot of nothing out there, with nary a clue as to where he was with the computers off.

If he hadn’t felt small before, he sure felt microscopic now, he glumly mused as he took out one of the space food bars, ripped it open and popped it into his mouth, tossing the wrapper onto the floor. Who knew if he was even in the Milky Way galaxy anymore? Heck – what if he wasn’t even in the same universe? He saw those shows where everyone had goatees and were supposed to be evil as a result. What if he was in that kind of universe?

He felt himself curl up while waiting for the console to be restored–only to then freeze, as the wrapper abruptly began to quiver unbidden.

_ Huh? _

The wrapper shuddered, and it was then that Keith heard the booming steps outside. Two by two, at a rapid pace, practically slamming into the steps as whatever was inbound, bounded right up the steps. Whatever it was, it was heavy. _ Big _.

_ The big gun…! _

It was the only explanation, and now that he could hear it coming, could hear that it really was_ big _, he knew he had to get out of there. Instantly Keith’s eyes dashed back and forth to find a vent; It was right beneath the dead console. He didn’t waste time ripping the door open and throwing himself into it, slamming the door behind him and scooting as far away as he could.

He should have ran, he needed to get out now. But if he didn’t see what the big guns looked like, he’d never know to avoid it. Besides, he was hidden within the vent, securely covered by the shadows; there was no way anyone could see him where he was.

Yet if that was the case, why was his heart pounding so fast? Why was he sweating and shaking? He _ was _ still safe in the vents, wasn’t he?

The pounding footsteps caused the entire bridge to shake as the approaching danger came to the top of the staircase outside; Keith could only watch helplessly as it practically slammed into the sliding doors, causing it to groan as they tried to open automatically. When the doors were fully open, Keith’s heart stopped at the sight.

The _ big gun _ was a _ beast _. A massive beast that barely fit through the door even on four legs. Its bright gold eyes stood out in the dark while glowing, ragged cyan fur on its back scraped against the door frame. It shook out its form, then stood to its full height – revealing itself to be twice the size of the tallest of the spacemen. Large pointed ears flexed on the sides of its neon-plated skull, and it opened its mouth to reveal a massive row of white teeth – and an oblong tongue that gushed out a waterfall of saliva onto the floor. That tongue lolled out of its mouth as it seemed to survey the room, and Keith forced himself to summon all the willpower he had to not cry out loud, despite the tears forming in his eyes.

This beast was too terrible, too big and too bright, all at the same time. However, the _ big gun _ beast wasn’t looking in his direction anymore, and perhaps, _ just perhaps _ , if he moved very, _ very _ slowly–

_ ~Keeeeith.~ _

Keith’s eyes widened as the deep, hissing voice suddenly echoed, not within the room, but within his _ brain _. It echoed and rang between his ears, clear as a bell, even as the air around him stayed stubbornly silent save for his own increasing hyperventilating.

He couldn’t keep silent anymore, and he let out a small whimper. It made no difference if he stayed quiet or not.

The big gun beast could _talk into his brain._

_ ~Keeeeeith…where…are…you?~ _

Keith felt his blood turn to ice as the massive form abruptly stopped, then brought its lupine-like snout up into the air, sniffing with loud, slow snorts. The line of drool from its massive mouth seemed to thicken as the moments passed. Then, after a sixth sniff, the yellow eyes widened, and the glowing fur seemed to brighten. 

The beast quickly snapped its head in the direction of the vent. Then, just as quickly, it lunged forward, its eyes fixed on Keith’s.

_ NO NO N- _

Keith couldn’t contain it anymore. He let out an ear-splitting scream, and threw himself backwards, throwing his hands over his head, as the monster’s nose slammed into the metal, causing it to whine and bend from the force of the beast.

_ ~There you are, Keith! I found you-!~ _

“**AAAAAAH!**” Keith continued to screech, letting the tears stream down his face as the thing let out a loud, barking sound. “NOOOO! ** _NOOOOO!!_ **”

He had to run. He had to get _ out. _ Yet even as he sobbed, even as he began to scoot away on his knees until there was nothing below him. Even when he was falling, and his head met metal, the ring and his knife clattering away from him at the impact of the hit. Even when he slipped beneath the waves of pain and into a soundless, almost blissful darkness, tears still streaming down his face. He understood down to his bones.

He wasn’t going to get away, and he wasn’t going home.

Not this time.


	3. Killer Robot

While he laid on the cold metal, he dreamed.

He was running, as hard and as fast as his little legs could carry him, away from everything that wanted to hurt him. In particular, he was fleeing from the Stevensons (but then again, this was something he often did both in dreams and in reality, so this wasn’t new for him), who in this version of Keith’s transitory torment were monstrous and gigantic, staring down at him with bugged out eyes and snarling mouths. Their hair slithered with massive snakes that spat out green venom that tasted like broccoli, which contrasted all too much with the ominous orange sky that hovered over everything.

_"You obnoxious brat. You little monster. You good-for-nothing pest."_

The Stevensons began to shout and scream at him, their words like sledgehammers. Then, their ginormous hands slammed into the ground trying to catch him. Though they missed, their attempts created a great earthquake that made Keith stumble. Panting, he regained his footing and continued his flight, shouting the name of a man who didn’t seem to hear him, or even appear at all.

_Dad! Dad!! Where are you!?_

_"Shut up!!" _ The angry yelling from Mrs. Stevenson hurt his ears. "_How many times do we have to tell you-"_

The earth shook again, and this time, a growl began to rumble through the air. Keith turned and let out a silent scream as the _ big gun _, the beast with yellow eyes and glowing teal fur, suddenly appeared out of a cloud of smoke. Avoiding the Stevensons’ arms, it leaped into the air, a pair of wings burst from its back as it, too, began to chase him.

_~Keeeeeeith!~_

Its line of drool formed a puddle on the ground, one that became like a treadmill under Keith’s feet, and he found himself merely running in place, no matter how hard he sweated, and no matter how much energy he poured into breaking the hold the drool now had on his ability to progress.

_"HOW DARE YOU! _ The howling of the beastly thing now accompanied the shouting of the Stevensons as all they began to close in on him. _"You’re going to regret that, you little gnat!"_

_"We may not have brought you into this world," _ Mr. Stevenson’s voice was low and threatening, "_but so help me if you keep it up don’t think I won’t consider taking you out of it!"_

_Help! _ Keith could see the vague silhouettes of the other children in the foster homes – not just of the Stevensons, but of the three prior families as well, all outlined in the orange sky. _ Please! Guys-_

The children all turned away from him, speaking among themselves as they did.

_"I’m no snitch."_

_"Such a weird kid."_

_"He’s being a stupid baby!"_

_"Why can’t he just stop being so annoying?"_

_"Let’s just wait until he leaves."_

_"Who’d want him, anyways?"_

_"His own mama left him…"_

_Hey! _ Keith let out a frustrated shout at this. _ C-come back!! STOP! I need...I need help!..._

They didn’t come back. Instead, they all became wisps of fog in the ever-lightning sky, and finally, Keith couldn’t take it anymore. He fell to his knees and pounded his fists into the floor, only to find his hands sticking to the drool.

_No… _ The big gun and the Stevensons' shadows began to descend on him through the skies. _ NO!!_

_"Keith!"_

His head went back up towards the horizon. He knew that voice. His dad. His dad had come back, finally, and-

And then his heart sank when he saw what his dad looked like, because it was then that he realized the orange in the sky wasn’t the sky at all.

"_Run! "_The flames began to engulf his father as he threw his hand out one last time, as if to push someone away, and then he was far away and deep into the heart of the roaring heat with only his frightened eyes visible. "_Keith, RUN!!"_

_DAD!!_

Keith screamed, because he knew what it meant, of course he did. His dad was gone. His dad wasn’t coming back, ever, and his mom wasn’t either, because maybe the kids were right that she didn’t love him after all. His heart and mind had to keep reminding him of that fact, that his dad didn’t make it and his mom wasn’t there, but he had survived and was still there. He could feel the hot breath of fire start to lick his neck, and then the beast’s breath was on him, and the Stevensons were grabbing him with giant talons growing out of their hands-

He was in trouble, and this time, no one would save him, and then his father’s eyes were completely consumed into the flames as he let out one final agonizing scream from inside their house-

“**_DAD!!_ **”

He let out a gasp as his eyes popped open, and his body let out a little shudder as the howling wind of the inferno still whooshed past his ears. Pain throbbed in his ankle as it lay immobile against the wall of the vent, and his head felt like someone had brought a hammer to it. His whole body was otherwise sore, and his arm was asleep from lying on top of it for so long.

His eyes were also wet, and his cheeks felt stiff in places around his upper face, like someone had streaked paint onto them. He knew it wasn’t paint that had caused it, but that wasn’t important anyways, right? What was important was that he was trapped, no matter what he did.

Still, he had his knife, at least, and the ring. Though who in the world knew what that thing was going to do, and why he even bothered taking it with him, other than it was there to take.

He tried to move, only to feel the pain shoot up his ankle and right through his leg. He bit back the cry that wanted to come out, and forced it back down into his throat, because he knew what that pain meant. He broke something, or at least busted the ankle up enough in the fall that he wasn’t going to be running anytime soon.

So, not just trapped, but _ really _ trapped. He sniffled as he slowly slid down the tunnel, blinking back more tears. He didn’t even bother pulling his pants back up, abandoning them in the tunnel as they-and the majority of his food-slid off of his legs. It was true, wasn’t it? He was badly hurt, so he couldn’t outrun all the monsters and robots and the beast now trying to get at him. His knife, as much as he loved it, as much as he cherished it, wasn’t going to help him when the spacemen clearly had guns and lasers.

He groaned and whimpered as he continued to crawl slowly, babying his ankle as he dragged it along, squeaking across the metal. Maybe he could somehow escape. Maybe he could somehow find the way out of this and get back to Earth. But even if he did, he realized going home wasn’t going to be much better, either. What did he really have to look forward from the Stevensons when he was brought back to them?

He’d be punished, obviously. Probably be locked up in a cupboard, or the basement, or in a closet. He was not getting dinner for the rest of the week for certain, and the Stevensons were certain to follow through on their threat to take away Hippy the hippo and his books. Heck, Keith realized he might not even get his free lunch at school, either, and the school always gave him a free lunch no matter what. And of course no one was going to believe his story when he tried to explain what happened to him.

What would the aliens do? Would they give him to the robot? Would the spacemen shoot him? Would they throw him out of an airlock? Would they experiment on him, or worst of all, feed Keith to the giant beast?

He rubbed his eyes as more tears came to his eyes from the pain and from his own misery, sniffling as he spotted a vent up ahead. Did it even matter? It probably didn’t. No matter what he did, he would be miserable. No matter whether he was back on Earth or out here, he was all alone. He would be scared, and alone, and no one was going to come and help him. There was no one who even cared, no one in the whole universe who would even remember that he existed, if anything happened to him.

The one person who he knew cared–who had always cared, no matter how he acted up or how strange he might have been at his worst–was gone forever, all because of a stupid house fire. Keith wished his dad would come back, that he would wake him up and tell him that it had all been just a very long, very bad dream. Maybe Keith was in a coma and soon he’d wake up and his dad would give him a big hug before taking him out to that steak place in the city where they served giant sodas in cool boot-shaped glasses, and then his dad would bring him home, tuck him into bed, and tell him how much he loved him.

But that was, Keith knew, stupid. They were the thoughts of a baby. His dad wasn’t coming back. His dad was dead.

The thought of it caused him to burst into tears once more, and this time, he didn’t even bother trying to stop. So, he didn’t stop, not for what felt like a long, long time.

* * *

After crying everything out of his body until he really had no more tears left and his head felt like it had cracked in two from all the water he expelled, Keith just lay on his side in the vent, staring at the faint emergency light of the vent opening that lay before him. His ankle felt hot and was swollen to twice its size, while his stomach rumbled. He didn’t care. He ignored it all.

That conviction lasted for quite a while, or at least until he started hearing a strange humming sound coming from behind him. Cool air began to blast up through his body, causing him to shiver. Ahead, the lights of whatever was outside of the vent suddenly became bright and sharp to the point of hurting Keith’s eyes with the sudden change.

It was the lights, and the ventilation, all of it back on at full strength. The spacemen had fixed the batteries, and probably the bridge control as well. Moaning, Keith forced himself to start moving again. His ankle was progressively hating him more and more with each passing second as he finally came to the vent opening and popped it open, before he finally fell out into a large hallway, his body crumbling into a pretzel.

There was no one there. He was alone. That hope, that stupid baby hope that kept getting him in trouble, nevertheless began to well up inside him once again. Maybe Keith really had a chance after all. He was aware his dumbness was getting the best of him, that he didn’t actually have a chance at all, not with so many monsters coming after him. They were all looking for him. Eventually, they would find him, and it would be all over.

But there was still that hope, and Keith couldn’t ignore it, no matter how much he tried. He was still just a child, in the end. A stupid child that didn’t know when to quit, never did and never would. He slowly started to stand–

“AH-!”

Putting weight on his foot caused pain to shoot up throughout his entire leg, and he immediately collapsed to the floor with a howl. The impact simply caused his head to hurt again, and for a moment, he could feel his eyes cross as his vision swam.

Just like that his hope was crushed again, and he let out a mewl as he nevertheless started crawling again. Yes, it was hopeless, but he had to keep going, no matter how pointless it utterly was, and no matter how painful.

It was slow going, and soon enough, Keith’s entire body–his elbow and knees especially–were red and felt like they were on fire. He laid on the ground, panting quietly as he leaned against the wall. In front of him was the elevator, and he knew he would have to take the chance to try and find a floor where an escape might be. It also meant he would have to stand to use the lift.

Keith shut his eyes as he took a deep breath and began to crawl again at a snail’s pace, sniffling the entire way as he finally got to the end of the hall. His tears returned as he tried to stand again, even though he favored his good ankle over his bad one. He punched the panel with his fist, letting out shaky breaths as the elevator, after what felt like an eternity, opened for him.

No one was inside. It was just going to be him.

_Good… _ Keith grunted as he hopped pitifully into the box, somehow managing to get in before the doors closed on him. That was good. _ Ok, I...think I can work with this._

He didn’t even think about what floor he should go to. He just decided on the bottom floor, slapping what he hoped was the right button. Even if there was no escape pod or spaceship to use to get back to Earth, there had to be a front door or something like that. Anything that would allow him to leave this building or space station or whatever so he could find a space rock that he could just live under for the rest of his life.

True, he had no idea how he’d get food after he ran out of what he stole, or how he’d get his ankle treated, or where he’d find clothes that weren’t just a large t-shirt and nothing else. He also had no idea where he would find a proper blanket, or if he would ever see Earth or Hippy again. But those were all concerns he could figure out after he found that rock. At least, he hoped there were rocks to live under. If he ended up on an ice planet or in the middle of space, he had no idea what he’d do to survive.

Keith sighed and leaned against the wall as his stomach shot up to his throat, even as the elevator plunged down with him. He was just lying to himself now, wasn’t he? Where in the universe could he go to hide from the beast that could speak into his brain, or the killer robot, or the spacemen, or that giant aliens that accompanied them all, even if he left this place alive?

There was a ding, and the elevator opened. Keith managed to stumble out of the elevator before it closed on him, falling onto his knees and whimpering as pain ricocheted into his ankle and back. Stopping again to close his eyes, he began to crawl, looking around as he did so; when he realized where he was, his heart again soared with that dumb hope.

He was in a ship hangar. Large, shiny spaceships, with power and technology that Keith could barely comprehend, much less dream about. His eyes widened, and he couldn’t help but gasp at the sight, especially when he alighted on the largest ship of the bunch. It was like seeing the Calypso, if the Calypso was large, had bright green stripes, and had lasers attached to the sides. It was beautiful, and Keith suddenly found himself longing to pilot it.

Of course. That was a ship he could use to get himself home. Now he just had to get inside and start it. He began to crawl faster, eyes sparkling at the thought of using the ship to get home, maybe shooting away the robot and the spacemen and the alien. Maybe he could even scare the big gun beast the same way it had scared him. Maybe for once in his life, he wouldn’t be the one that was bullied and pushed around and hurt.

In his childish reverie, he didn’t realize he was about to collide head-first into the calf of one of the spacemen until his forehead impacted with the armor fastened to it.

“Oh-!” The figure–one that almost seemed as short as him–let out a gasp as they turned to face him. “Keith!?”

Instantly Keith reacted. His knife was out, and he slashed at the unprotected parts just below their green-clad knees. Instantly the spaceman jumped back, avoiding the attack; despite that they didn’t go for a weapon to fight back. Even so Keith swiped another time, just to keep the spaceman away, before he turned and forced himself up on his good leg.

“Wait–_ Keith_–!!” The spaceman shouted after him, but he refused to listen, he hopped away as fast as he could as he heard the spaceman start to chase him. “Stop, we don’t want to hurt y–”

The spaceman’s attempts to placate him were stopped when Keith proceeded to grab a–ok, he didn’t actually know what it was, actually. It looked like a box holding glowing cookies of some kind, it was heavy, and holding it caused him to put weight on his bad leg, and he screamed as he flung the box as hard as he could. His throw didn’t even get close to the spaceman, but it clattered harshly against the side of the plane, and the spaceman ended up turning to look at the damage, just for a moment.

“Ack, the scalurite plugs-!”

It was enough for Keith to limp away with a whimper, as fast and as hard as he could–right into the thigh of the killer robot.

“_Keith _-!”

The killer robot gasped–but didn’t make a move to capture him with his scary cyborg arm, instead bringing his arm up as if to surrender. Maybe it was because Keith was still brandishing the knife as he backed away, but on the other hand, the killer robot’s arm could probably turn his heirloom into a pile of useless chips.

“Guys, Keith’s in the hangar! We need a lock down on this floor ASAP!” Why did it seem so upset? Why wasn’t it chasing him? Keith was dead meat, but instead of giving chase the robot was letting him go. “He’s not–I think he’s injured! We need to be careful!”

Talking about him like he was an angry animal. Maybe Keith was, but he didn’t care. He swung his knife towards the robot, then towards the green-clad spaceman as it tried to edge closer to his peripheral.

“**STAY AWAY FROM ME!**”

Keith’s wet scream echoed through the hangar, causing both the spaceman and the robot to visibly wince. He shakily kept his knife up, swiping it in warning even as he backed away, even as neither of his enemies came after him to press their advantage. Instead, the spaceman backed away, while the robot simply kept their arms up, as he repeated his threat.

“St-stay…stay away!”

Right behind Keith was a ship; maybe he could board that and blast a hole in the hangar doors, if he could figure out how to use the controls. If he could open it using his knife. Keith inadvertently licked his lips as snot ran down his face; it tasted salty and gross. He probably didn’t look intimidating at all to these monsters.

“Stay away or I’ll–I’ll cut you!” He stumbled backwards, the tears threatening to stream down his face again. “I-I mean it! It’ll hurt! A-and if you keep trying to get at me, then I’ll…”

That was when he saw blue mist start to form around his feet.

“…I’ll…”

_~Keeeith…~_

A massive shadow suddenly dwarfed his own, and Keith felt his stomach drop as he slowly turned to look at what was behind him.

The fog cleared, revealing the monstrous, massive _ big gun _ beast right behind him. It bent down, its eyes glowing bright as suns while they stared into his soul, before it let out a loud, alien bark from its ginormous fang-filled mouth.

_~Hi.~_

Keith screamed, louder and higher than he ever had before, and his hand immediately reacted, slashing out with the knife. It was futile; the blade didn’t even come close to its mark before the giant beast pounced on him, its legs as long as Keith’s entire body, with fur twice as thick. His knife–his only defense, the only item his long-lost mother left him, clattered away from his grip, landing in front of the killer robot’s feet.

The pressure on Keith’s ankle, and the impact of his head hitting another hard surface, took his breath away as he stared up at the beast’s face as it leaned in, its mouth open wide. Its breath washed over him, stinking of meat and death, while its drool began to pool all over his chest. He couldn’t move his arms, the pain in his head was becoming unbearable. Even if he could muster up the strength, he knew that any attacks would have been useless. In comparison to this beast, Keith was nothing.

This was it. The beast was going to devour him. He wasn’t even going to survive this, much less get out of this horrible situation. He wouldn’t grow up and escape, like he could with the foster system. He wouldn’t be saved, like when his father died. There was no one here to save him, and no one would ever know he was eaten, much less kidnapped. No one would care to even try and find out what happened to him.

_~Keeeith…~_

A tongue began to loll over his face as tears began to pool beneath his head on the floor. Keith was just so, so stupid. He’d been wrong the entire time. He knew he was wrong to hope, wrong to believe in a happy ending, and yet he kept hoping anyhow. He really was nothing more than a stupid baby, in the end. The end–

_~Keeeith! Keeeith…~_

A whimper came from the beast as Keith simply stared back up at it with numb, blank eyes. It proceeded to lick him again, more fervently, but it didn’t move to finish the job. Wasn’t it going to eat him? Why wouldn’t it? Was he that awful of a kid that he tasted rotten to the monster? Maybe that was it–

_~You’re hurt…~ _ The sadness unexpectedly seared through Keith’s mind, jolting him back into the moment. _ ~I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m–~_

“Kosmo! _ Off! _”

The beast’s head came up, and with a final whimper it released Keith from its grip, allowing Keith to catch his breath as the painful pressure on his ankle released. The light of the hangar hit the beast as it did so, and as Keith stared, its shape became more lupine, more familiar. Not in the sense that he knew the creature, not at all, but he realized that the beast that was speaking into his brain was shaped–indeed, looked a _ lot _ like–a gigantic, albeit drooling, wolf.

Why did the beast suddenly look like a wolf? Was he dreaming? Was this what dying looked and felt like?

“Stand _ back_, everyone.” The killer robot spoke this time from somewhere behind him, the tone firm. “Give him some space! Come on, Kosmo, right this way, that’s a good boy. It's ok.”

_~So sorry, did I scare him–~_

“What? But he’s hurt, Shiro!” The spaceman Keith had attacked in the crotch spoke. “I mean, look at how swollen his foot is–”

“I _ know_, Lance.” Keith heard shoes scraping against the floor behind his head, and he tensed. “But…he clearly doesn’t know who any of us are. We're only scaring him more right now.”

“He’s convulsing.” The deep voice. The giant alien from when he first escaped his cell. “Are you certain this is wise?”

“He’s just shivering from his lack of pants, I think,” what sounded like the green-clad spaceman replied with a brisk sigh. “Can we at least cover him with a blanket? This is awkward.”

“I think we should.” The voice of one of the spacemen he had caught before going to the bridge. “Shiro, is…can we at least cover him up so he’s not cold?”

“If that’s what he wants.”

Keith’s eyes widened at this. The killer robot was actually…giving him space? Letting him make his own decisions? He _ had _ to be dead. The monster had to have eaten him. Whether or not he was in heaven was debatable, given how terrible everyone said he was. How terrible he might have believed himself to be.

“Hang on, let me…Keith?” There was silence, before the killer robot spoke again, their voice so gentle that Keith couldn’t believe it came from such a dangerous figure. “Would you like a blanket? Maybe a means of propping your head up?”

Keith stared at the ceiling. Was this a trick? Was this a plot to convince him that everyone surrounding him were good and not evil? Even if it was, he realized with a shiver that he was cold, he wasn’t going to be able to fight his way out of the situation. He was cold, injured, hurting, and above all just plain tired. Getting knocked out didn’t count as being asleep, after all, and he could feel the adrenaline drain from his body.

Finally, he could only find himself sluggishly nodding his head, and instantly, a large rectangular shape was gently draped over him, much to his surprise. Then, he felt his head being lifted up into a spacious lap; the pain was such that he couldn’t help but groan.

“Oh,” One of the spacemen sounded worried at his noise. “_That _didn’t sound good…”

“There we go. Thank you, Keith. I know you’re scared…”

The top of the robot’s silhouette slowly began to come into view over Keith, and he couldn’t help but let out a small whimper. Not just because the killer robot was right above him and could snap his neck at any time, but also because of the fact that the killer robot had taken off its helmet, and he was now getting a full look at the other’s face for the first time.

Just as he thought, the killer robot _ did _ have a human face–a square-jawed human face with thick white eyebrows and a massive, if admittedly cool–looking, scar over the bridge of his nose. He also had completely white hair with bangs that fell down to his eyes, and those eyes, far from holding the scorn and anger Keith had seen before, was filled with nothing but relief and concern.

“…but we’re here to help you.” Somehow, Keith could almost believe what the killer robot was saying to him now was the truth. “My name is Shiro.”

Still, Keith frowned at the kindness, and his eyes narrowed.

“You’re…you’re really here to rescue _ me_?” He couldn’t believe that these spacemen would come all the way to help him, of all the kids in the universe. For that matter, he still had no idea why he was even kidnapped to begin with. “Why? That...doesn't make sense you'd come help _me_.”

Something in the robot’s face seemed to sadden at this accusation.

“Of course we’re here for you. That’s why we’re here.” He spoke as if, of _ course _ they wouldn’t abandon _ Keith_. “You were abducted by a group of pirates, and we managed to track them to this station. But when we went to get you out of your cell, you were gone. Everyone was worried that you were hurt, or worse.”

“Killed?”

“Possibly.” The robot closed his eyes. “But thankfully, you’re not dead. You were still hurt on my watch, though, and for that I’m very, very sorry. I wish I could have stopped it.”

It was getting really hard to doubt the killer robot’s sincerity as the moments passed. It was also getting hard to focus on the killer robot’s face; the light was starting to hurt his eyes.

“…mm. But the beast…”

“Kosmo is a friend of ours,” There was a canine-esque whimper somewhere in the vicinity. “Helpful, if a bit…overbearing and unaware of his real strength at times. He was able to find you because of your scent, but he didn’t mean to injure you.”

_~I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m really sorry Keeeith–!~_

“Really…” The apology being beamed into his brain was making Keith’s head hurt more, and he closed his eyes to try and ease the pain. “Ngh, ow.”

“He’s really pretty friendly,” Keith could sense the killer robot smiling again. “If anything, he’s more like a big, friendly, and slobbery space dog.”

“Shiro?” A new, worried female voice rang out at this, and Keith registered it as one of the voices he had initially heard in the cell, as well as one of the voices that had first spoken of the _big gun _ beast. “Oh quiznak, his ankle–!”

“It’s ok, Krolia,” The deep-voiced alien’s voice rumbled. “But I believe we’re more worried about his concussion.”

“Wait, he–” The spaceman whose crotch he attacked let out a gasp. “A concussion!? How do you know!?”

“His eyes were starting to dilate. Child though he may be, it is not the first time I have seen such signs.”

“I noticed.” The killer robot’s metal hand slowly floated over Keith’s face before slowly sliding it beneath the back of his head to further tilt his head; it was a shockingly gentle movement for a machine that beat aliens up and probably shot lasers and stuff. “Keith? Did you get all that?”

“No.” Not entirely true; he did get it all, he just didn’t understand it. “What’s a concoction?”

“A concussion means we think you hit your head during all of this.” One of the voices–oh, it looked like a fat spaceman wearing yellow armor, how did he not notice that before? In any case, the fat spaceman was kneeling down near his feet, taking off his helmet. To Keith’s astonishment, the fat spaceman also looked like a human, and a darker-skinned one at that. “_ Did _ you hit your head, Keith?” 

Why did they all look human? Unless…no, they couldn’t be human. Humans had barely gotten to Jupiter, and that was a decade or so ago, just before he was born. Meanwhile, Keith had seen aliens that couldn’t have possibly lived in the solar system. For all he knew, these were shapeshifters or body snatchers trying to take over his body, and he shouldn’t trust them still, because they were going to hurt him after all.

Though that still begged the question of why _ him, _ of all humans? Why did they target _ him_? Why go through the trouble of trying to _ pretend _ to rescue something, to fake-save someone no one else thought was worth wasting their time on? It was confusing and his confusion wasn’t being helped by the pain that was threatening to overwhelm him from his ankle and his head.

So, Keith just found himself nodding to the fat spaceman as a result.

“All the more reason, then, to put him into the cryo-pod as soon as possible, then if he has a concussion.” Cryo-_what_? The voice of the alien’s female friend was speaking again. “Especially with what we now know about his imprisonment here.”

“While I agree, that’s up for Keith to decide.”

“Are you _ really _ going to put that kind of decision into a child’s hands?” Alien’s Female Friend sounded shocked, almost disappointed, like she was the killer robot’s mom or something. “Especially since Keith is–”

“Krolia.” The voice of the alien’s female went silent as the robot spoke again “We’ll figure this out, I promise.”

“You better.”

“I know…” The robot took a deep breath and looked back down at Keith. Keith, meanwhile, blinked, realizing that oh, they were going to ask him to do something before making him do it. It was weird. “Keith? You still with me?”

“…Yeah.” Keith numbly nodded. “I’m awake.”

“Ok…” Several sets of footsteps began to recede from them. “Pidge? It might be best if you explain.”

“Me? Why me? I don’t speak kid, Shiro!”

There was a long pause where the robot looked over at the green-clad spaceman. After an eternity, they finally huffed, throwing their hands up as their own visor receded, revealing another human face, this one a…boy. No, a girl. Actually, no–

“Fine, fine, I’ll try and dumb it down. So, um, on top of your boo-boos–“

“I’m not a baby…”

“Ugh, whatever,” The boy–girl–person rolled their eyes–a very human gesture, he had to admit. “We _ think _that the pirates that kidnapped you might have put a compou–a drug into your system. It can affect…well, your memories and your body if left unchecked.” Keith began to tense at this, but they continued. “There’s a way to see if that’s the case. We have a very advanced medical machine with us that can detect that kind of stuff. It can also heal your, uh, injuries.”

The boy–girl–person paused, and Keith just knew there was a but in their explanation.

“To do that it puts you into cryog–it basically puts you into a state of su–it makes you take a nap and it’s like being under cool sheets when you fall asleep.” They flailed in a way Keith could sympathize with, from his own moments of frustration and impotent rage. “Aaaargh, why is basic baby language so hard!?”

“I’m _ not a baby_!” Keith’s voice sharpened at the sudden, seeming insult, causing his headache to spike. “I can take care of my…myself!”

“We know you can,” this time the robot spoke. “Pidge is just very smart, so it’s sometimes hard for her to remember that not everyone is as smart as she is.”

_Wh–they _ are _ a girl? _ Keith’s eyes widened slightly at this revelation. _ What!?_

“In any case, yes, you would basically be taking what feels like a super-relaxing and nice nap while the cryo-pod checks you out and heals your wounds. And when you’re done, you’ll be your old self, like it never happened.”

“…How long will it take?” The idea of going to sleep was sounding nicer by the moment, but Keith wasn’t quite ready to trust entirely yet. “I…I _ will _ wake up, right? You’re really…really _ sure _?”

“Absolutely.” The robot smiled over him, bobbing his head in a nod, his bangs flopping with the movement. “You’d be in there for a few hours at the most. Then, depending on how things go, you’ll be going home in no time.”

_Home. _ Keith made a pained sound at this, shutting his eyes. The robot may really have been genuine and nice, but of course he couldn’t have known. Keith didn’t really have a home. All he had were the Stevensons, for however long they tolerated him. If they even tolerated him anymore after how long he’d been gone. Heck, the social worker was probably waiting for him on the doorstep to take him to another family at this point. If he was lucky maybe they’d let him grab Hippy on the way out.

His hands began to clench the blanket tightly, his fingers crumpling up the fabric until all of his fingers were exposed to the air. As this happened, he opened his eyes, and could see the glint of the ring on his thumb catch the light. It caused the pain in his head to trickle into his eyes, and he had to turn away his head, just in time to feel a shift in the robot’s lap beneath his head.

Slowly looking up, Keith saw the expression of shock on the robot’s face.

“Oh, this is-” The robot gently picked up Keith’s hand, bringing up the thumb. “You–you have the ring.”

Keith swallowed as he looked at the massive hands clenching his own, only to find – to his personal surprise – that the robot had a ring just like it on his fleshy hand. He blinked at this, then looked down at the ring on his thumb, slowly putting two and two together in his addled head.

“Oh…I found it in the room..." He swallowed. "It’s yours, isn’t it.”

“No.” The robot shook his head, a small smile on his face. “Not mine, just…it belongs to someone very special to me. I thought he might have lost it on accident.”

“Oh.” Someone special? Keith pushed the robot’s hands away so he could pull it off, flushing red. Maybe that was part of why they seemed so insistent on finding him as fast as possible, too. Perhaps they suspected Keith had the ring. “You can take it, then. I didn’t mean to steal it, it was…kind of there with me...”

“It’s all right. I know you didn’t, Keith.” Something in the robot’s face seemed to soften as he accepted the ring, folding his fingers over it. “I’m just happy I can give this back to him when I see him again. Thank you; you’re a good kid, you know that?”

A small, unexpected squeak came from Keith at this. A good kid. The robot thought he was _ good _ , even after all the stuff he pulled. It sounded too good to be true. Keith had to blink to make sure he was still somewhat awake, and he was. The robot really _ said _ that.

Well, at least that was _something _ nice that came out of what happened, because something unpleasant suddenly occurred to Keith as he looked down at the clenched hand.

“I’m…going home, right? Or…well, to the house I live at.” Keith furrowed his eyebrows in thought as he looked back up at the robot’s face. “Can…can you just explain to the Stevensons what happened to me before I was up? If you can, I mean? I don’t want to get in trouble.”

Something in the robot’s demeanor changed, and he almost looked hurt as the metal hand came back down to pat Keith’s shoulder. Yet the smile didn’t leave his face as he responded, and Keith wasn’t sure how to feel about it. It didn’t feel like the robot was mad; maybe he was just a little sad.

“Don’t worry about them. You won’t be in trouble, I promise. We’ll make sure of that.”

“Here we go!” The fat spaceman’s voice rang out. “Cryo-pod is here and ready.”

Keith turned his head to look at the cryo-pod. The green-clad spaceman–well, space_ girl_, he supposed–wasn’t lying when she said it was advanced. It looked like it was straight out of a science fiction movie. Or a horror movie. It could go either way, though the gentle lines and whites of the metal were pushing towards the former. At least he thought they were gentle, but they seemed a little blurry through his sore eyes.

Seeing the pod also made his head throb more persistently, and his head began to swim as a result. He wasn’t going to last much longer, he realized. He wasn’t going to die (well, he hoped he wouldn’t. If the robot was lying about the cryo-pod healing him and he _ did _ die, he’d be _ very angry _!) he was starting to fade from the pain and exhaustion.

He would have to decide, and now, before the decision was taken away from him.

“Keith?” The robot’s voice seemed a little more distant. “You still with me?”

Keith hazily looked up at the robot, and finally sighed, feeling more tears forming in his face. This time, though, the tears were from pain and exhaustion. His body was simply giving up, even when the mind and heart weren’t so sure. For the first time in his life, Keith couldn’t even garner up the stubbornness he had counted on during his whole ordeal.

“Just do it,” he mumbled. “Just…please. Let the Steven…Stevensons…”

His eyes began to flutter. He wanted to go to sleep.

“I wanna…go…”

“…Ok.” He felt his body shift, as the robot picked him up like he weighed nothing. “You will be where you belong when you wake up. I promise.”

Keith sighed again as everything became a blur, unable to even muster a thank you. The warmth of the blanket was wrapped around him, at some point, and he could feel himself being passed between arms, the whimpering of the space beast over someone’s shoulder echoing through the air along with worried murmurs, until his back hit something firm. Then he could feel his breath turn hot amidst the cold air and mist suddenly surrounding him, and Keith could feel himself slip into unconsciousness again. Unlike when he hit his head, though, the sensation was pleasant, even welcomed.

It was…_ nice _ . Just like what was promised to him by the spacemen. They were telling the truth about the cryo-pod. Maybe, Keith’s thoughts became hazy as he began to sleep, just maybe they were telling the truth about everything else after all, and he _ could _ trust them.

Though, Keith wasn’t sure what the robot meant by being back where he belonged, instead of just saying they’d drop him off with the Stevensons. Maybe he would figure it out when he woke up.

* * *

_He did. He absolutely did._

**E N D**


End file.
